Come to an open mat

We open properly on 3 August. But there’s one way to see what this club is actually like before then, without booking anything or committing to a single thing: come to the open mat.

It runs every Sunday, 9:00–11:00, and it’s free. No membership, no booking, no trial to sign up for. You turn up, warm up, and roll.

Why we run it this way

An open mat is the honest version of a gym tour. A website can tell you anything — we’ve told you plenty on ours. What it can’t do is let you feel the room: how people treat a stranger, whether the rounds are calm or chippy, whether the coaches are the sort you’d want to learn from. Two hours on the mat answers all of that better than any amount of copy.

So this isn’t a sales event with a mat in the corner. Nobody is going to corner you about membership. It’s just open rounds with the people you’d actually be training with, at your own pace.

An open mat is the one thing on offer here that can’t be faked. It’s just the room, as it really is, for two hours.

Who it’s for

If you already train — anywhere, any level — this is for you. Drop in, roll, see if the room’s a fit. If you’re new to the area or between gyms, same thing: come and get a feel for it with no pressure.

If you’ve never grappled at all, the open mat is more watch-than-roll — it’s open sparring rather than a taught class, so a free two-week trial from 3 August is the better on-ramp for a complete beginner. But you’re still welcome to come, watch a session, and ask anything you like.

What to bring

Shorts and a rashguard, a mouthguard for live rounds, and a water bottle. Sliders or flip-flops for off the mat, bare feet on it. That’s the whole list.

Drop us a message first so we know to expect you — hello@rebelcombatsports.com or @rebel_combat_sports — and then just turn up.

No membership, no booking, no pitch. Turn up on a Sunday and roll.

Here’s everything about the open mat and dropping in. We’ll see you on the mat.